Two first period goals from 19-year-old rookie Tomas Hertl (that's Toe-mah-sh) proved to be as big a cushion as the Sharks would need as they cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes Saturday night.

It only took 46 seconds of his second NHL game for Hertl to score his first goal as he snuck a shot under Coyotes' netminder Mike Smith's pads to give the Sharks an early advantage.

Seven minutes later Hertl snagged his second goal and first power play goal as he provided a deflection on a Matt Irwin shot to put the Sharks up 2-0.

Patrick Marleau would all but put the game to bed on the second powerplay opportunity of the night. Marleau cleaned up a puck in front of the net as he so often does and buried it to get the Sharks to three goals just over halfway through the first period.

The Coyotes got their only goal on an Oliver Ekman-Larsson shot that Antti Niemi would probably like back. A booming shot from the right side of the ice ate Niemi up and slipped past the Finnish netminder getting the Yotes back in the hockey game at 16:27 of the second period.

With an empty net in the third period the Sharks did everything to give Hertl a chance at a hat trick but it was not to be; Logan Couture scored his first goal of the season sealing the 4-1 scoreline.

After the breathtaking first period the Sharks went to sleep a bit the rest of the game. Part of that is thanks to the Coyotes poor play; the Sharks didn't exactly have to put the boot on the throat as the Coyotes only mustered 18 shots despite trailing virtually the entire game.